Girl Hunter Interview and GIVEAWAY

January 16, 2012

You’re in for a real treat today! AuthorGeorgia Pellegriniis here to tell us about the inspiration behind her fabulous new book,Girl Hunter, giveaway 4 copies, and dish on some of the details of her life.

If you’re a fan of cooking, food memoirs, hunting or just reading and learning more about where your food comes from, you’ll definitely want to pick up a copy of Girl Hunter ASAP.

Welcome, Georgia!

The Inspiration Behind Girl Hunter

We have a bit of a food dilemma today in America. Our industrial food system is so contaminated with corn, and hormones, and sick animals, that we humans are faced with the dilemma of what to eat so as not to get sick. My personal solution is hunting and gathering.

I’ve come to believe that when done ethically, this is the last natural and instinctive interplay between humans, the land, and animals. Hunting is an act involving all of the senses and I believe one of the most natural ways of being human on this planet.

It is part of the natural cycle of life, humans eat animals and plants, animals eat animals and plants, plants feed from the dirt, and we turn to dirt. I think that is the part some people have a hard time with—where there is the flow of life there is also the flow of death, and they have to acknowledge their own mortality.

Because I think once we have that honest conversation about our food system and refuse to have an anonymous relationship with our ingredients, the quality of food we expect as omnivores will forever change.

For me, hunting is paying the full karmic price of the meal, a chance to participate in every part of the process and use every part of the animal which is an invigorating experience as a chef.

But there are other ways people can participate more closely in the cycle of life. One would be to join in with friends to buy a share in a whole animal from a farmer that raises their animals humanely. Another would be to purchase only grass fed, or free range or heritage meat.

Even vegetarians can participate by stepping off the grid in small ways, even just once in a while–stepping outside their front door and gathering purslane for a salad or dandelions for wine.

The idea is to get back in touch with our natural human instincts… as hunter gatherers, as people that used their hands and were more connected to the world that we live in.

I don’t expect everyone to hunt and that isn’t what Girl Hunter suggests. But I do hope that my book will prompt people to have a conversation about the role they play in the food they bring to the table.”

What was your life like before you became a “Girl Hunter”?

I grew up on the same land my great-grandfather lived on in upstate New York. He named it ‘Tulipwood’ and I’ve always felt a deep connection to the place.

My grandmother lived there in the same house she grew up in. My great-aunt, her sister, used to walk around with me and tell me the name of every plant on the land, and I would label them for her.

Living there and fishing, foraging, and gardening inspired my love of simple food and my love of tradition. It’s what ultimately inspired me to go to culinary school and cook professionally. And then that philosophy is what inspired me to eventually become more hands on about rolling up my sleeves and getting to the heart of where my food comes from.

What prompted you to give up your previous career?

I was working in finance after college because it was the easiest path to take, but I was very unhappy.

After a bit of soul searching I realized I was always at my happiest when cooking, so I took a leap of faith and enrolled in culinary school. I went on to work in farm to table restaurants in New York and France and discovered I was much more interested in the people who were coming in with their goods than I was in peeling grapes in the kitchen.

And so, on my days off I would spend time with these people, go foraging in the woods with them, or visit them on their farms.

Many of them had made a choice to change their priorities and do the work they felt most passionate about – not because it made them the most money, but because it was what made them happy. I ended up writing my first book based on these people — Food Heroes.

The great poetic irony of giving up my previous career was that, while I was in France doing all of this cooking and writing, Lehman Brothers, the company I had worked for, collapsed.

I lost the little stock I had, and I thought to myself, what if I had stayed to make more money even though I was miserable? I would have lost it all. It was a sign to me that I had made the right choice.

When did you get involved in hunting? Has it always been an interest of yours?

I didn’t grow up hunting, though I did grow up fishing my trout for breakfast and foraging in the woods. I’ve always been keen on getting dirt under my fingernails.

I was working in farm-to-table restaurants in New York and in France after culinary school and one of the restaurants I worked at made us kill turkeys for the kitchen.

That was my watershed moment. It was emotional and intense and there was a window through which I momentarily peered and contemplated life as a vegan, but ultimately something shifted in me, I realized that if I was going to eat meat and handle meat as a chef, then I wanted to pay the full karmic price of the meal and no longer have an anonymous relationship with my ingredients.

And so we killed the turkeys and brought them back to the kitchen and used every single part of the animal — treated it with integrity from the field to the plate. That experience awakened a dormant part of me that I think we all have as humans and omnivores, no matter how strapped to city life we are. Our ancestors were all hunter-gatherers.

Have you ever felt that your life was in danger while on the hunt?

Yes, just once luckily. I wrote about it in Girl Hunter and it entails bears, an angry horse, an angry man, and a journey 10,000 feet high in the mountains of Wyoming.

I won’t give the story away but I often have people email me or write me notes on Twitter saying that they’re staying up reading my book in order to make sure I get out of Wyoming okay.

I definitely am a little too “fearless” at times, but luckily I’ve learned from those experiences.

What are your hobbies when you’re not hunting?

Well, cooking… and pretty much anything else that involves manual labor. I grew an enormous, overly ambitious garden with my brother this year on the land where my family lives in upstate New York. We also keep chickens and honeybees there so I help out with that.

I recently moved into a new home in Austin, Texas so this past few months I’ve become sort of obsessed with home improvement stores and so far have built a large wooden planter box for bamboo and a concrete fountain!

The guys at Home Depot looked at me like I was a crazy lady when I strolled in with a puffy skirt and flip flops and announced I was going to pour a cement fountain. But I did it!

Tell us about a typical day in the life of Georgia Pellegrini?

I sometimes crave a typical day… I travel so much for my writing and for various projects that I am lately protective about carving out a few weeks at a time where I get to sleep in my own bed and watch my own TV!

But usually, no matter where I am, my day begins with scrambled eggs and avocado and lots of hot sauce (I’m obsessed with hot sauce) and then checking a million emails. I’m trying to find a way to create more balance lately, I check email too often in order not to drown in it.

Sometimes I have fantasies of stepping off the grid and being a hermit in the woods. Maybe that’s why I like being outdoors and the act of hunting… it is a chance to be totally present and get back in touch with our original human instincts, a time before the fast pace of life existed.

I cook a lot when I’m at home too… using my hands in the kitchen is a great outlet.

It’s so versatile and such an economical way to use excess fruit you have on hand. I used to love fruit leather as a kid and this version is tasty and healthy.

What are your top 3 favorite cookbooks?

I love food writing with recipes mixed in… that’s probably why my last two books have been food narratives with recipes!

When I read about a journey and how the food was intermingled with the experiences the recipes really come alive for me and that’s when I’m eager to make them. My favorites right now are:

The Art of Eating, by M.F.K. Fischer: A compilation of her culinary musings. She remains the best food writer still, in my opinion.

Cooking for Mr. Latte, by Amanda Hesser: This was one of her first books and takes you through the courtship with her now-husband, all of the food they ate and the recipes to try yourself. It’s delightful.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child: It will always and forever be a classic and I love her spirit. Plus French technique is a great foundation for any kind of cuisine, even the simple food I tend to cook now.

How about top 3 fiction books?

The Agony and the Ecstasy, by Irving Stone: It’s about Michelangelo’s life but I think he took some artistic liberties so it reads like fiction.

Watch the trailer for Girl Hunter

Giveaway Prize (4 winners):

Giveaway Requirements:

What are you inspired to do to get more involved in knowing where your food comes from?

Contest ends January 30, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Contest open to US States and CANADA only.

Winners will be chosen via random.org and will have 3 days to respond before disqualified and a new winner chosen.

Optional Extra Entries:

Additional entries can be earned by doing any of the following, giving you a total of 2 extra entries. Leave a separate comment for each of your entries.

1. Follow GoodLifeEats and Georgia Pellegrini on Twitter and ReTweet the following message: I just entered to win a copy of @GPellegrini’s new book, Girl Hunter, from @goodlifeeats http://is.gd/JWOsNi #giveaway #books

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98 comments

I’ve always been a big fan of eating basically anything. I was the only one to eat my grandma’s czarnina (duck blood soup) and I loved the duck neck and heart. I’ve been with my boyfriend for 14 years and he’s an avid hunter and fisherman. We eat what he kills, but we’ve really stepped it up in the last year due in part to movies like King Corn. So much is processed and I would rather know where my food comes from.

I’ve been part of winter and summer CSAs… chat up farmers at the local farmer’s markets, but I’m really looking forward to this year where I will have an opportunity to live off MY land. I will have room for a garden, an area to grow hops (beer!) and we’ve seen deer and turkey tracks. Hoping to get plenty of fish ice fishing this winter too. My inspiration is a challenge of GOOD eating and to see if I’m able to solely eat from my land.

I’ve been trying to eat more locally – farmer’s market. Although, it’s not really the vegetables that I need to work on – it’s our meat sources. I’m really trying to buy locally sourced meat products as well, but the convenience of the super market sometimes wins. This is something I’m trying to change for 2012. We do buy organic and as locally sourced when possible, even if does come from the supermarket. However, I’d like to skip the supermarket more in the future.

I just tweeted the giveaway, too! @jarslikejam

I follow GoodLifeEats and Georgia Pellegrini on Twitter! @jarslikejam

Now that I’m finally living in a house, I’m looking forward to planting a sizable garden this year and potentially raising a small flock of chickens (for eggs though, not meat). I also live in a fairly pro-agriculture area and try my best to frequent the farmer’s markets during the spring, summer, and fall. It’s an adventure.

Reading the book “In Defense Of Food” and taking a nutrition class.

Even though living in a small town doesn’t afford us the luxury of health food stores to visit, living in a small rural area allows us the luxury of knowing farmers and hunters – a great way to get fresh meat. The lady down up the street sells fresh eggs that are delicious. And I’m also looking forward to expanding our garden this year.

This summer, I watched a bunch of my coworkers tote home boxes full of CSA goods. I was jealous, and vowed to get my veggies from the same place next summer. Forget the big box grocery stores!!! I need to do more to support my local growers.

I want to eat more grass fed beef and bison.

I haven’t necessarily been more inspired to know where my food comes from as I have always known where it comes from so it is natural for me to know/want to know. I grew up on a farm and ranch in rural North Dakota where we raise our own cattle and pigs, hunt for deer, turkeys and pheasants, fish all as often as possible (even through the ice!), grow a garden every summer, can our own pickles, salsa, preserves and whatever else we may have in excess. Right now I’m temporarily living in the city of Denver but I still get most of my meat from home and hit up farmer’s markets as often as possible. My plan for life is to move back to the country, have a huge garden, a little ranch with beef cattle, chickens, and hogs. We’ll hunt and fish as much as possible and strive to not depend on anyone else for food!

Fortunately my dad plants a big garden (three in fact) so I know where most of my veggies come from – he doesn’t use any pesticides and waters the garden with rainwater that he collects. I’m inspired to grow my own garden and learn to can/freeze so that I can enjoy the bounty all year long. I really need to get more educated about where the meat I consume comes from and where its been before I get it. I asked for Girl Hunter for Christmas but I must have been on the ‘naughty’ list ’cause I didn’t get it so I’m really hoping to win it.

I shop locally for produce whenever I can (at the farmers market or local farm stands). I grow a slew of my own veggies and planted raspberry bushes this year (yikes). I preserve some of my own foods (pickles, peppers, jams, salsas) from the produce I grow or pick up locally

I am in the process of creating a food service establishment in which i can feed people the way I feed my family. We try to eat natural, less processed and organic…we have bought whole animals locally to have processed for our food, and we’re currently planning to plant a garden to sustain our families, and hopefully our restaurant 1 day too!
I believe the closer we are with what we eat, the more aware we become of what we’ve been ingesting for so many years. GPellegrini, you are truly an inspiration, I hope to be able to read your book and share it with my family too!

Shopping farmers markets for my produce. I do think it’s important to support our local farmers.

This book sounds so interesting! I love food memoirs and I would love to learn more about knowing where my food comes from. I belong to a CSA and love knowing where my produce comes from but I’d love to learn more!

Over the last year or so my husband and I have talked about having a small farm complete with chickens, dairy cow, bees a pig and possibly a steer. I love the ideas of raising and hunting for my own food!

As amazing as it would be to know exactly where my food comes from through hunting/harvesting, I just dont have the means for that, but I have been working on buying more local!

Once I have a house, I would really love to plant my own garden, and maybe even raise some chickens of my own.

We split a cow from a local farmer every year with my in-laws, and in the summer my husband and I have our own little garden. I think this year I’d like to attempt canning some of our surplus so we can enjoy it through the winter. I would love my own honeybees, too!

I follow goodlifeeats (Yeah, ABQ!) and have tweeted: I just entered to win a copy of @GPellegrini’s new book, Girl Hunter, from @goodlifeeats http://is.gd/JWOsNi #giveaway #books

I have always wanted to harvest my own food. I never grew up with a garden, my dad was the only one that hunted in the family. But this last year I’ve become deteemined to learn these tools on my own. Last semester I received my hunter’s education certificate which is required for a hunting license. I never felt so empowered from shooting and a shotgun. This year I bought a clay thrower for practice and will hopefully be in the woods retrieving my own harvested meat. It’s something that I look forward to. I’ve also been gaining the knowledge in canning. It’s something that is being done less and less, just knowing that inspires me to learn more about it and to be able to do it. I feel it is very important for me to learn how to preserve and prepare my own food and I am taking these actions in doing so.

My boyfriend has inspired me to get to know where our food comes from and how it is prepared. He has been hunting his whole life and has exposed me to a world I never knew existed. I have accompanied him on hunts and watched him butcher a deer into steaks for our dinner. It has been a real eye opener and eventually I will learn enough to be able to hunt as well.

my family is a work in progress. we have recently overhauled our diets. i’m not sure what this year has in store for us as we seek a simple, healthy way of living.

My new year’s “resolution” is to eat fresher, homemade foods. I already make a lot of my own things like applesauce, seasoning blends, salad dressings, etc but I would like to start doing more. I also shop at farmer’s markets where I can talk to the farmers/growers first hand and buy fresh seasonal foods.

I follow you both on Twitter and Tweeted the giveaway.

Wow! What a great interview. THANK YOU!

My husband is an avid hunter and we are teaching our boys to fish (and eventually to hunt…when they’re old enough). We keep a large garden and grow enough vegetables to sustain our family of 6 through the year with extra to share. We have fruit trees and bushes that provide some of our fruit. Most of the food that we eat is made by me with help from our 4 boys. I think it’s important to teach them where food comes from and to appreciate what we have.

We belong to a CSA which we love!

Next up is planting a herb garden on my window sill and finding a local source to buy a share of cow and chickens.

My dad is actually a hunter so one thing that I like to do is eat the food that he hunts and brings home…that way I know exactly where it came from. During the winter we eat a lot of venison which is fresh and healthy and I could tell you exactly where my food came from. I also like to shop at the local market, which in Cleveland is the West Side Market. In the summer I spend time going to smaller farmers markets around town which not only helps me know where my food is coming from but also puts money directly back in my community!

Growing my own vegetables in containers here in the desert near Palm Springs, CA reawakened the gardener in me that used to can tomatoes and put up pickles in Vermont and after that there was no stopping me! I began to grind my own flours and experiment with different herbs and spices which made me realize that I can really only trust that which I’ve gotten my hands involved in…..nothing in a box covered with slick ink and advertising! I walked away from Corporate America and havent looked back in a year!

I tweeted the phrase and hope it inspires others!

I followed GoodLifeEats and Georgia on Twitter @LoriRobinWilson

Gardening and shopping at farmers’ markets are my favorite ways of connecting with where my food comes from. There’s something so neat about eating a salad that was literally just picked less than an hour before!

I am fortunate to live in a town that is leading the nation in supporting local farmers – Asheville. I am already a member of a summer CSA and a winter CSA. A butcher shopped just opened up down the street. It selling only locally raised meat. I’m looking forward to getting all my meat from them. Our bakers are milling locally grown organic wheat. I’ll be able this spring to buy flour from them. Now we just need someone to bring back dairy to the area!

I am following Georgia Pellegrini on Twitter and tweeted that I just entered to win a copy of her latest book! HOpe to win!!

As a nutritionist studying food additives and chronic disease, I love this topic! So to answer you question: What are you inspired to do to get more involved in knowing where your food comes from?
I am blogging about this topic (read my blog post in response to your question http://www.healthyurbanista.blogspot.com/2012/01/epicurean-revolutions-obesity-and.html), pushing the FDA to make changes and encouraging US consumers to do the same!

I have been making my own yogurt. It’s so easy and so much better than anything you can buy in the store.

I grew up in a small town and my mom always had a huge garden but now I live in the city and find myself missing that connection with the land. My daughter is three and we try and teach her where her food comes from. We frequent farmer’s markets, visit the local organic dairy and this past summer we bought into a CSA allotment.

We are working on expanding our garden, planting fruit and nut trees, trying to become self-sufficent. Raising our own cow will be another step for us. My one son shot a buck and doe this year so we have venison too.

I would like to visit and help out on the farm that I get my veggie and meat csa from. I also want to figure how to plant atleast a few veggies in my very shady yard.

When we purchased some ground beef about 3 years ago and it was horrible tasting. Since then I have purchased a chest freezer and buy my beef 1/4 cow at a time. Same with chickens and pork now. Fruit and veggies I get from farmers market that is now year round.

I plant a garden each year and frequently visit farmer’s market and buy organically when available. Hoping to make my children understand it really does matter what they put in their bodies!

I just took the time to read up on Georgia via the links you provided…fascinating!

I plant a small garden each Spring that sees me through the fall, which is truly organic. Faithfully support and purchase produce and fresh items from local farmers’ markets. Nothing like fresh fruits and veggies!

I’m inspired to purchase my proteins from local farmers rather than the supermarket (since we no longer have our 20 acre farm). I have been doing this for the past year, and the difference is amazing. I also grow a gigantic organic garden as well and purchase non-grown veggies from the Farmers Market. Buy Local!

I’m supporting local farmers through a CSA membership and shopping at the farmer’s market. I buy my eggs from a local farmer and I’m planting a garden this spring. I try to tell everyone about the benefits of buying local and the importance of knowing where our food comes from.

My husband and I are planning on buying our meat in bulk and directly from a local farmer this year, so we can know exactly where our meat comes from and how it’s treated before it becomes our food. We’ll probably be doing half a lamb and half a pig, along with a dozen or so chickens. This, plus the two or three turkeys we raise out at my parent’s place and slaughter ourselves should be plenty for us!

So interesting! We get most of our produce from our garden or CSA. I’d love to find a local source of grass fed beef.

talk more to farmers market meat distributors!

I reposted your tweet

I’ve been reading some GREAT books such as Real Food by Nina Planck, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, & The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather. I’ve also watched some GREAT documentaries such as Food 101 & Fork over Knives. They’ve really made not only stop & think where my food comes from, but how what I choose to eat affects my body. I am definitely making better choices & have become more aware of what I buy!

My goal for 2012 is to eat healthier foods and make more home cooked meals for my family. I enjoy exploring food blogs and they have been teaching me so much about cooking and eating healthier. Great giveaway. Thank you.

I will be joining my CSA again this summer, so that I can get fresh local produce, free-range eggs and beef.

I grew up out in the country on an old farm, so growing our own veggies, raising pigs, making sausage, and coming from a hunting/fishing family, knowing where my food came from and being passionate about it isn’t really a new thing.

I will say though I’ve gotten more into it independently. I’ve been canning a lot more and eating as seasonally and locally as possible.

I shop at the farmer’s market.

I followed you on Twitter. 😉

I followed you on Facebook. 😉

Many of my family members are hunters and while I learned to shoot a gun and spent many hours on the farm and in the woods, I have never combined the two. However, in the last couple years with a major issue as a catalysis I have been learning more and more about healthy food and cooking in general. I believe in karma and what Miss Georgia said, “…I wanted to pay the full karmic price of the meal and no longer have an anonymous relationship with my ingredients” hits home for me.

Find a local egg supplier! I used to buy from a woman around here but then she moved. . . blah.

I support local farms by buying organic produce and we look forward to our weekly harvest box. I feel bettter about the produce we purchase and about supporting local growers. I think it is important to teach our children about making healthy choices, trying new foods and learning about organic options. I know I would learn a lot from receiving this book and would be able to utilize it every single day. =D

We’re already becoming aware and have our own flock of chickens. I also prefer to buy food locally when possible, which makes it easier to determine where it comes from and how it was raised/grown

I’ve been really focused on making things from scratch. Including cleaning products! I’ve started to question where the food I buy is coming from and am looking forward to the farmer’s markets this spring and summer!!!

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Hello! I'm Katie, author of GoodLife Eats Etc. where I share what I find in my life. A mix of great recipes, family memories, adventures, good reads, and anything else that I love is what you will discover here.